Lighting the Shadows
by scribbles-in-the-margins
Summary: A 4 shot Shakamaru X Temari A small collection of Temari X Shikamaru fics set in the future. Rated T - Edited 2/2/2008
1. Lighting the Shadows

_Disclaimer – these characters do not belong to me (but I wish they did)_

_No spoilers really and not sure if this can actually fit the continuity since it is set in a random future where Shikamaru and Temari are both adults._

_I love this pairing._

_Rated T for bad guy death and implied sex and language_

Edited 2/20/2008

_------------ Lighting the Shadows ------_

Shikamaru closed his eyes. The sun was setting and the shadows were stretched as far as they could possibly reach. It was the time of day when he was strongest, the fleeting time that his family's jutsu bathed him in power and awareness. This had been the time of day he chose to attack. Something seemed fitting to the dark haired man about a life ending in harmony with a day that was ending. The two missing-nin had not stood a chance. They both lay at his feet now, battered and broken and very much dead.

He opened his eyes. One of the dead was his target, a missing-nin from leaf that had been evading capture since the attack from Sound years ago. The other was from Suna if the forehead protector was to be believed. Both missing-nin, although only one was on his list to kill. He frowned: at least they weren't innocent. He couldn't handle killing any more people like that. The assassinations where he didn't know why – those were getting to him. He knew his Hokage had a reason for everything she made him do, but without any evidence to go on, all his brain could do would be to play out every possibility, and too many of those resulted in the target being the victim of someone else's ambitions.

These guys were guilty though. He had seen the reports of merchant caravans that had taken damage, civilians that had been injured or killed. He started to set up a barrier to destroy the missing-nin. Killing a Sand Missing-nin would be appreciated by the allied nation, especially since this one was evidently a freebie. He was almost ready to set off seals that would destroy the body when he sensed someone.

The sun hadn't set yet, and the shadows were long. If they didn't know who he was, they would attack at his strongest point. He reached out his perception through the impossibly long shadows of sunset. There. He found it. One shinobi approaching. He wrapped his awareness around the other person, and then he straightened up, "Temari!"

He pulled his awareness back to him and waited for her to arrive. He didn't let his guard down though, in the years he had known her, he knew how volatile the woman was. If she meant to seriously attack, she'd have waited for dark, but that didn't mean she wouldn't try to send him flying on his ass just for old times sake.

She landed in the clearing. She looked different than back in his chuunin exam, she had grown up. Her hair was still in the four ponytails and she still had the same smile when she saw him, "Hey crybaby."

"Hn" He smiled at her though; she was impossibly bright in her white outfit with her blonde hair. Not the same type of bright as that annoying orange ball of energy back in Konoha. No, Temari was stunning and composed, and part of Shikamaru's brain added 'breathtakingly beautiful'.

"I see you've joined ANBU." She walked over towards the sand missing-nin and snapped a picture of the body with a small camera.

"The uniform is less troublesome." He watched her carefully.

She smiled, "You said you became a Jounin because that was less troublesome."

He shrugged, "You've met my mother. It got her to be quiet for a while."

"ANBU would be more likely to be sent towards Wind country … and sent alone." She smiled as she walked towards him.

"You're wrong." He smiled as he took a step towards her. "Being me would mean I am more likely to be sent, since I am not letting anyone else have missions this way."

She reached out her hands to grab his, "That sounds like it's troublesome."

He leaned forward to kiss her, "Less troublesome than not seeing you."

He needed her. She was all light and sun to his dark and shadows. She was warm to his cold. The passion in her fighting style was opposite his cold and calculating way. She was the light his soul needed when the thoughts of those he had killed kept him up at night.

He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly as they kissed. When he was holding her, the setting of the sun didn't bother him and the moonless darkness of the night was not something to keep him up. When he had her, everything in his world was all right. Even if it could only be secret meetings when they both took missions towards each other. For the chance to be with her, he'd take every mission towards her village he could. He knew she was doing the same thing.

He found what he needed in her, as they made love under the moonless night sky -- the little piece of his soul that was still human and not overtaken by shadows. Whispering how he loved her as he held her afterwards, he knew it couldn't last. She was from a different village. If only there was a way, but neither of them could go missing. He held her tight, falling asleep in her embrace as he realized he no longer cared about his childish life plan. The whole wife who was neither pretty nor plain and the two kids, no -- all he wanted was Temari. All he wanted was what he could never have for more than a brief moment in time.


	2. Everyone Breaks

_Disclaimer – I don't own them or there would be a hot boys of Naruto swimsuit calendar_

_Warnings – None really for this one_

_Sorry for this sad little piece, but I had another idea for a Shikamaru X Temari scene. Some day I'll write something happy with them, I promise, but right now, fate does not like these two._

_Edited 2/20/2008_

_-----------------------------------_

Everyone Breaks

Shikamaru hated team missions. They were in some no-man's land between Fire and Wind in an area which neither side cared enough about to claim with anything stronger than ink on a piece of paper. The village itself was barely worth a second thought. The tax revenue from a place like this wouldn't even pay for the bother of collecting it, so this hellhole slipped through the cracks.

His team was beat up and tired. The newest member was up for the first time in a day, and only because he was on some major painkillers. He needed medical attention, but it would be better to find a place to stay in town and treat him than to force their way back to Konoha.

Shikamaru led them into the bar, it was a shady place that boasted a few rooms, a hot meal, and a clientele that wouldn't speak of Leaf ANBU showing up. After the end of the latest war, there had been more bandit activity in the border regions than there had been in a long time and it wasn't unusual to see bands of tired shinobi dragging themselves into a normally forgotten town.

His black uniform was dirty. His uniform was different than the three with him. While they wore the protection of the lighter grey vest and arm guards, he didn't bother. He was completely encased in black except for his toes and his upper arms and shoulders. He had no use for the same armor as the rest of them -- it only slowed him down. His deer mask hung from his belt.

He lead his team into the bar, leaving them at a table as he talked to the owner. He returned with a room key and say with his team. "We'll eat, then we'll go to the room."

Bowls of oden were brought, and Shikamaru watched as his team began eating. They were tired. He had pushed them almost past their limits. It was cold and miserable outside and he didn't want to be out here any more than they did. Warming up and resting even at a shithole like this would be their best bet. Their mission was successful. A large raiding party of bandits would not be raiding any more trade convoys.

Once he was sure his team had enough, he started eating. He may not like leading a team, but that did not mean he didn't take care of his men. He turned to the door, the rest of his team following his gesture as he was suddenly on guard in the poorly lit bar.

A woman wearing a black yukata walked in. She was half carrying a man wearing a sand forehead protector and a standard Sand Jounin's uniform. He was bleeding on her, but it appeared most of his wounds were bandaged. The woman looked exhausted. She had a large fan strapped to her back, and her hair was plastered to her head with blood.

Shikamaru knew his team had weapons in hand, but he stood up unarmed and walked to the blond woman. "I have a medic with me, Sabaku no Temari"

She turned to him, her eyes showing no emotion, "Thank you, Nara-san" She allowed Shikamaru to take her injured comrade and followed him as he led her and his team up to their room. His team was silent. Yes, they were allied with Sand, but it was still an uneasy alliance amongst those that remembered when Sand had attacked. Even the events since then had not erased that pain.

Shikamaru put the injured man on the bed and gestured for the medic of his team to get to work. Shikamaru turned to Temari, the formality evident in every word and pose, "Are you injured, Sabaku no Temari?"

She shook her head, her pose echoing the formality of his, "Thank you Konohagakure ANBU-sama for your concern, I am uninjured."

Shikamaru bowed. "By the terms of the agreement between Konohagakure no Sato and Sunagakure no Sato and our respective countries of Fire and Wind, it is my honor to extend out assistance in any way it is needed until such time as it is no longer required."

She nodded, returning his bow. She said nothing as he led her to a chair and helped her sit down, taking her fan as she handed it to him and setting it against the wall. He knew his team was watching him, he didn't treat his own Hokage with that much respect and they all knew it. Hell, he didn't treat anyone with any respect.

The medic of Shikamaru's group straightened up, "He's in rough shape, but he'll make it."

"Thank you, ANBU-sama." Temari bowed her head at the medic member of Shikamaru's group.

The man nodded, "We shouldn't move him, until tomorrow, and then he needs to be taken to a hospital."

She nodded, "Thank you, ANBU-sama."

Shikamaru kneeled down in front of her, looking up into her face -- he frowned. "Temari-san?"

She trembled, trying as hard as she could to not let her body show her closeness to collapse.

He glanced back at his squad before turning back to the woman in front of him. He placed a hand on her shoulder, his fingers gripping her softly. She looked into his eyes, the pain in her green eyes was almost physical, "Ri-chan…"

She swallowed and trembled, finally speaking as he placed his other hand on her knee. "I had a twenty person squad."

His squad saw something then that few had ever seen. Tamari collapsed into Shikamaru's arms. He caught her and picked her up, cradling her as if she was a small child. He carried her over to a corner of the room and sat down with his back pressed into the corner. His rough hands stroking her hair and telling her soft lies of it's all going to be all right.

He pulled a blanket out of his pack and draped it over her, he knew she hated being cold. He knew she hated winter. He knew she hated loosing people. He held her and kept lying about it all being all right. He watched as his medic treated the wounded member of his squad. He watched as the squad settled in to rest, rotating through using the bathroom to get themselves cleaned up once the medic was done cleaning up his two patients, pointedly not looking at their commander. They were ANBU; they knew that even the strongest of them broke sometimes.

He waited until they were done, and then he carried Temari and his pack to the bathroom. There wasn't even a shower in the room, so he cleaner her as best he could with a cloth and the sink. He removed her clothes and washed dirt from her familiar figure. She didn't move as he cleaned her, she wasn't asleep but she wasn't awake. He knew she had taken too many stimulants; a body can only run off those for so long before it collapses. Finally, he dressed her in his spare ANBU uniform. He washed his shirt and her clothes and hung them to the wall with senbon needles.

He hadn't been as dirty as the others, or as she was. He carried her back out and cradled her against his bare chest as they huddled in the room. Using scouting hand gestures he told his team to rest and he'd take the watch. He knew with her in this state, he wouldn't be getting to sleep anyways.

He held her through the night as she shook and silently cried, finally falling asleep in his arms. He held her tightly as he remembered all the other times he had held her, and all the times he wished he could have. Holding her again almost made him forget it was over between them. She was married now. It didn't matter that it was a political move and her husband was four times her age, she was now forbidden. It didn't matter that one night, years ago, they had exchanged their vows in secret, back before the war when they were young and stupid.

Shikamaru sighed, he really had been stupid. He had let her slip between his fingers. He knew she would be up in the morning and pull on her own clothes. He knew she would take her injured teammate and with an exaggerated formality, she would thank them. Then she would be gone.

Come morning he was proven right. She changed back into her sand uniform, her hair back into its normal four-pony tail style and her fan on her back. Then she took her injured person and left them. Thanking them with the same strained formality of the night before. When she left, Shikamaru sat down on the bed, his teammates looking towards him waiting for orders. They didn't say anything about the tears in his eyes or how he carefully folded the uniform that she had worn and packed it away. They didn't say anything as he took a necklace out from under his shirt and fingered a simple gold ring on the chain.

They didn't say anything when he collapsed into his tent that night; they simply pulled the watch shifts between themselves. They had never seen their commander break either, but they knew everyone did at some point. They just never thought that their logical commander's breaking would be caused by love.


	3. The hope of the wind

_Disclaimer – Don't own them_

_Rating – T for language and the fact this is depressing_

_Welcome to part 3 of my original one shot. Will things ever work out for poor Shikamaru and Temari? Or are they stuck playing the depressing parts in this travesty I am writing._

_Spoilers – Umm, barely any and this probably won't stay timeline compliant if it even is._

Edited 2/20/2008

------------ Even a broken wind can find hope ------------

Shikamaru stood behind the Hokage. He knew she wouldn't be Hokage for much longer; she had seen their village through some amazing changes. She was getting old, though she didn't let it show. He stood behind her in his full ANBU gear, even the armor he never wore. His deer mask was in place and the strong lights near their position gave him plenty of shadow to work with is the need should arise.

This was one of those hopelessly boring political events. The Kazekage was there, his red hair and green eyes a stark contrast to his skin. Various officials from the most important families were there complete with their entourages. Shikamaru hated these events; thankfully as a faceless ANBU guard, he just stood there, his porcelain mask unreadable.

She was almost late in her arrival. Her skin was paler than it had been the last time he had seen her. Her hair was no longer in its signature four ponytails. Her fan was no place to be seen. The fire still burned in her eyes though.

Shikamaru saw the momentary flash of emotion as her brother saw her. Even the fearsome Gaara didn't seem to like the change. She meekly followed her husband into the room. The man was a powerful ruler with vast riches and after the years of war, one of the only things keeping the hidden village in the sand a viable entity. The cost had been the beautiful woman who looked almost broken by the man.

Shikamaru wanted to kill him. He wanted to grasp him in his shadow and squeeze until it was a shadow version of Gaara's desert coffin. He saw her look towards him, a faint smile on her face as she sat behind her husband. He wished he wasn't in the mask and could have returned that smile. He wanted to let his emotions control him for once and slaughter the man. Temari was his, how dare that man do this to her. She was not ever meant to be tamed, she was meant to be wild and free. He loved her enough to let her be free, how could this old man chain her.

He did nothing. He stood there watching her. Treaties were signed, payments were arranged, and food and drink were brought out. He stood by the Hokage's side as she ate and drank, never letting on that he wanted to kill the man touching his Temari. He saw how he touched her, pinching her arm and touching her thigh, like she was nothing but an object. He saw as the man drank and got heady with alcohol. He saw as she feigned dizziness and walked out into the garden, saying something about fresh air to her husband who was too drunk to care.

Shikamaru shifted and looked at the man in the hawk mask on the Hokage's other side. He made a gesture that he was going to scout the building. With that, he walked off towards the garden, trying not to arouse suspicion even though he was in his ANBU regalia.

He found her in a far corner, sitting by a secluded koi pond. He knelt down by her side, "Temari?" He reached out and wiped away a tear on her cheek.

She looked at him, "He wants a child." She pushed his mask to the side, to look into his dark eyes. "If I don't, he'll kill me."

"Your brother won't allow that."

"Shika-kun." She looked up into his eyes, a pale glimmer of hope being seen in hers. "If I have a child, then the security of sand is assured. He doesn't need to know."

The realization of her plan swept over him, granted her husband had dark eyes and hair. He didn't know Shikamaru so any resemblance would not be noticed. However, could he do it?

She gently leaned forward and kissed him, "I've always loved you, Shika-kun."

He glanced back at the party, "I don't have long."

She nodded and grabbed the waist of his pants, "Then don't take long."

He pinned her to the bench with a passionate kiss. No one was near them, with the alcohol flowing inside the chances of being interrupted were slight, but he kept his awareness alert incase. He took her quickly. After all the secret meetings that lasted all night along the fire and wind boarder -- to take her quickly seemed wrong, as wrong as another man's ring being on her finger.

He kissed her carefully afterwards, careful to not disturb her makeup. She performed a few seals and placed her hands over her stomach. He felt his world go a little queasy as he watched her, knowing what was going on. He straightened his mask, whispering, "I'll always love you."

She smiled at him, an honest smile, something that hadn't graced her face in many months, "Forever, Shika-kun."

He hurried back to the party and took his spot back at the side of the Hokage. Hawk signed to ask if there had been any problems, he just indicated no. A few minutes later Temari walked back in and took her spot next to her husband. If a person didn't know of the history between Shikamaru and Temari, it would have gone unnoticed. As it was, only two people turned to glance at him. One was Gaara, who let a hint of a smile show. The other was the ANBU next to him. He'd been on many missions with Hawk, including the one where they had encountered Temari after her unit had been wiped out.

No one said anything.

When the invitation arrived from Sand for the Hokage to attend the presentation of the Kazekage's niece a year later, Shikamaru was glad he was assigned to protect the Hokage that day. Looking over her shoulder, he saw the picture of a little three-month-old girl with dark hair but her mother's eyes.

He gasped before he realized what he was doing when he saw the child's name. Temari had named her Shika.

The Hokage looked up at him and he was caught reading over her shoulder. He thanked Kami for the mask he wore. "Shikamaru?"

He let his voice fall back to completely normal, "Yes Hokage-sama?"

She frowned. Then she looked down at the picture of the child, "I will need a guard when I attend the ceremony."

Shikamaru knew that she did not have to go, sending a representative would be more than enough for such an event. "I would be honored to protect you, Hokage-sama."

That night he walked home to the empty Nara house, knowing in a few short weeks he would see his daughter. He frowned as he went to sleep in his empty and cold bed, a daughter who would never know him.


	4. The plans of a deer

_A/N Shikamaru has shut himself off form life and faded to be just his ANBU mask, hence his refering to himself as 'deer' instead of 'Shikamaru'_

_Disclaimers - not mine, don't sue_

_Warnings - rated T for violance, depressing stuff, and language._

Edit 2/20/2008

_------------ The best laid plans of deer and men -----------_

A quiet man in a deer mask stood guard over the new Hokage. He was nothing but that mask any more, he could go days without anyone saying the name he had been born with. Now he was only his ANBU designator. Deer sighed as he was called into the man's office. The blond had grown up since they were both genin in Iruka-sensei's classroom.

He kneeled, "Yes, Hokage-sama?"

The Hokage frowned, "We're alone in here Shikamaru. You can use my name, you know."

Deer looked up, not removing his mask that had become his identity. He stood up and saw the folder on the Hokage's desk. He was glad he was behind a mask, the look of terror on his face would not have been hidden other wise.

Naruto tapped on the folder, the one with information on shinobi that was meant for Hokage eyes only. If Deer was even in the room, it meant it must be his. "Tsunade-sama has some interesting information in here. I want to hear it from you."

Deer looked down and took off his mask, few things got past his shut off exterior, this was one of them. He reached out to the folder and picked up a picture on top of the pages. It was a picture of a little two-year-old girl with dark hair and green eyes.

Shikamaru smiled at the picture, ignoring the moisture collecting in the corner of his eyes. "Isn't she beautiful?"

Naruto looked serious, "I received a scroll from Gaara."

Shikamaru put down the picture; it had been over a year since he was last in the village hidden in the sand.

Naruto tapped a scroll on his desk before handing it to the other man. As Shikamaru read it, the blond explained, "Gaara's scroll specifically requested you."

Shikamaru read it and smiled, "I gladly accept this, Hokage-sama."

Naruto frowned; the position had definitely matured the man. "Please, be careful. You leave at dawn."

Shikamaru nodded and resumed his watch, waiting for his relief to show up so he could go to his parents hold house and get ready: the place hadn't actually seemed like home for years.

&&&&&&&&&&

Dawn the next day and he was gone from the village. He was one of the fastest members of the ANBU squad; his shadow abilities gave him an innate advantage in running via tree limbs. He let his mind wander to the mission. He had never been so happy to receive an assassination mission. Granted this one was more complicated. He got to kill that man who married Temari. He got to kill the man that tried to kill her spirit. He got to kill the man that threatened to kill her. He knew, even with that man out of the picture, Temari would never be his, but she would be free. Shikamaru would do anything to free Temari. Gaara's plan was perfect. Kill the man, have Temari sustain injuries 'fighting off the assassin' and then Temari and her daughter – no their daughter – would move back to the village in the sand. It was as perfect as anything in Shikamaru's world ever was. He wouldn't be able to be with them, but they would be safe.

He smiled slightly under his mask; he was going to be able to see Temari. He was going to be able to see their daughter. His only glimpse of her had been when she was a few months old from behind an ANBU mask, and he would never be able to repay the fifth for her kindness in allowing him that glimpse.

Now Gaara and Naruto were giving him a chance to see her again. The distance between the village hidden in the leaves and the far portion of wind country where the bastard who had his Temari lived was long, but he covered the distance quickly, never pausing, just going. The chakra he was using to go faster wouldn't catch up with him for a long time. His reserves had grown greatly from when he was younger, these many years in ANBU and he had gotten much stronger. Part of him had wondered at why he bothered to get stronger, now he was putting it to the only use he cared about.

He might have a reputation as lazy, but he wasn't really. He was just efficient. When it was worth doing, he did it efficiently and quickly without wasted effort. It was with that philosophy that he covered the distance separating him from Temari. He rested when he had to, but kept moving as fast as he could and still be at the top of his game when he got there. According to Gaara, the security forces were numerous around the man's manor, but they were mostly hired thugs. In Shikamaru's mind they were just as guilty, they were keeping Temari prisoner in that place just as much as that man was. He hated that man. Since the moment he had first heard of him, he knew he hated him. Temari should belong to no one, not even to him, no matter what vows they had uttered all those years ago.

He reached the manor; it was outside a small town. He waited until an hour before sunset --that would give him the best chances. His technique had improved greatly since he was young, more clan techniques had been learned and he had even perfected one or two of his own, too bad no one would ever benefit from them.

Systematically, he killed the security patrols. The man evidently was paranoid to have this much security. Well, maybe not paranoid since he was about to be killed. Shikamaru lost count of how many men he slaughtered with his shadow. He ran through the manor looking for his target. He killed more security as he kept searching the manor, he had to find the target soon, it had already been thirty minutes, and the sun would be setting soon.

Then he found him. Shikamaru didn't normally physically touch a target. This was not normal though. He grabbed the man and slammed him into the wall. The man looked scared. Shikamaru smiled behind his mask. "Do you know why you are going to die?" He slammed the man harder into the wall, blood from the man's skull splattering. "You hurt Temari." He slammed him into the wall even harder, blood splattering and a sickening crunch coming from the man. "No one hurts Temari."

He kept slamming the man into the wall. His shadow was too impersonal for this man. When he dropped him to the floor, the man was barely recognizable. The man was very dead, and probably had been for a while.

Shikamaru went searching for Temari. He found her on the second floor. She was without her fan, but had kunai in her hands. She looked prepared to fight to the death as she stood guard in front of a room. When she saw the Konoha ANBU uniform and a familiar deer mask, she gasped.

He slouched against the wall, knowing she couldn't see the smile behind his mask. He tossed her the mission scroll and she carefully read it. She tossed it back, "I'm ready."

With that, he attacked. She fought back, but not as hard as he knew she could. If there were not defensive wounds, no one would ever believe it. He left her crumpled form in front of the door, not daring to step through. There could only be one thing Temari would defend with her life, and he didn't want his daughter to see him like this.

He fled the manor, leaving an unconscious Temari behind with only a few members of the domestic help staff alive. He never set foot in his daughter's room. The man was dead and his mission a success. He ran through the night, covering wind country as fast as he could, he didn't care if he collapsed, he just had to get away from there. He had to get away from the image of Temari unconscious.

He collapsed in the bathroom when he got back to his parents' house. Frantically, he scrubbed at his body to get the blood off. He didn't remember much until the next morning. Just a haze of scrubbing and vomiting. He woke on the floor of his bedroom, naked, his bloody ANBU uniform in the bathtub.

He forced himself into his standard Jonin uniform and walked to the Hokage's office after scrawling out his mission report. The ANBU guarding the Hokage's office simply let him in. They both new him, and the look on his face was not something familiar to them.

He walked up to Naruto, unmindful of the paperwork sitting on the man's desk. He threw his mission report to him, "I quit."

Naruto looked up as he caught the scroll, "You quit?"

"I can't … I can't do this." He collapsed to his knees. He had thought he would be able to do this without breaking down.

Naruto put a protective arm around his friend, "I'm sorry."

Shikamaru left the office with two months off from all duty and if he still wanted out of ANBU after that, it was granted. Time passed in a blur of cloud watching in the summer sun. Warm grass covered hillsides and clouds floating. He had never told anyone how much the clouds reminded him of Temari. They were wild and free. They were beautiful and powerful. They could go from the gentlest of wisps to the most powerful of storms. No one should ever control either.

One day, Naruto passed information from Gaara on to him. Temari was back in the village hidden in the sand and her daughter was there as well. There was no suspicion that Temari had anything to do with it, or that sand had anything to do with it. His mission had been accomplished perfectly.

His Temari was safe. Even if she wasn't with him, at least she was safe. Their daughter was safe. He stayed in ANBU, but in a training capacity. Every night he still had nightmares of the sight of Temari unconscious and bloody, knowing it was his fault. No, he didn't think it was his fault she ended up like that due to the mission he took. No, it was his fault because he hadn't been able to keep her safe. He didn't know where he had made his wrong move, but somewhere along his life, he had made the mistake that caused their two lives to be separated.

It was winter when he was summoned to see Naruto. The blond had a smile on his face. When Shikamaru left the office, he did too. More than a few people wondered what was going on; it had been a long time since the only remaining Nara had a smile. He had an assignment, and a wonderful assignment it was. Sand was sending an Ambassador; he was assigned to be her personal guard. The moment he had heard Temari's name, he had instantly forgiven Naruto for every troublesome thing the blond had ever done in his life and every tension headache Naruto had given him.

She was beautiful when she reached the front gates and he took over from the guard Sand had sent. Little Shika was adorable, running around with all of the precociousness of a nearly three year old girl. He was expected to stay at the embassy, Sand had requested 24/7 protection even in the village.

It didn't take long for the rumor to spread that the ambassador and her guard were more than a business relationship. While there was some feathers ruffled at the thought, Shikamaru had too many friends in high places for it to be a real issue. The wedding was attended by some of the most powerful shinobi in both villages. The pair had saved and helped too many in their years to be forgotten now that they were finally together. When a year later little Nara Tobikuma was born, the voices of dissent had all been silenced.

Shikamaru was content to live this lie. It didn't matter to him that people thought He and Temari were newlyweds, instead of having been married in actuality for over ten years. He didn't care that they thought he was a loving stepfather to Shika instead of her real father. All he cared about was all that was important. He was with his beautiful wife and his daughter and son. He would never try to tame Temari. He loved her for what she was. Just like the clouds, she was wild and free and loved by him forever.

** Epilog **

When the truth came out

When the truth of everything came out, Shikamaru didn't care. Their secret had been hidden for a very long time. When he saw that his thirteen-year-old genin daughter in her chuunin match was pushed to the point where she would need to fully unleash her potential, he knew everyone would know she was his. Her shadow bind was flawless. That her shadow jutsus had never been noticed before this was a testament to her abilities. She was incredible.

Her teammates didn't know what the shock was about Shika using Nara clan abilities. She was Nara Shika, daughter of Nara Shikamaru and granddaughter of the late Nara Shikaku. The shinobi her age had always expected it of her. The older ones who had believed the lie that Shikamaru was just a stepfather then knew different.

Later, he watched the clouds float by from his favorite hillside. His beautiful wife at his side. His son had graduated a few weeks ago, and his daughter was a chuunin. Life may not have worked out as he had planned back when he was twelve, but he had come damn close.

_----- The End --------_

_I know a happy ending… Surprise :)_

_Tobikuma – Flying cloud_

_Shika - deer_


End file.
